Giovanni Domenico Cassini was an Italian mathematician, astronomer, engineer, and astrologer. Cassini was an astronomer at the Panzano Observatory, from 1648 to 1669, professor of astronomy at the University of Bologna and became, in 1671, director of the Paris Observatory. Along with Robert Hooke, Cassini is given credit for the discovery of the Great Red Spot on Jupiter (ca. 1665). Cassini was the first to observe four of Saturn's moons, which he called Sidera Lodoicea. Around 1690, Cassini was the first to observe differential rotation within Jupiter's atmosphere.

Glenwood Springs, COLORADO — In the far northern constellation of Auriga the Charioteer, not far from the bright star Capella, an astronomical mystery is about to play out, as it has every 27 years for the past century.

Los Angeles, CALIFORNIA — Friends Of The Observatory (FOTO) will host and present the debut of "Cosmic Conjunction 2009: Music*Moonlight*Griffith Observatory," a special one-night-only concert at Griffith Observatory on Sunday, October 4, from 6:00 to 8:30 p.m., P.D.T.

Taipei, TAIWAN — People who have been wondering how oceans form, yearning to experience Galileo’s excitement as he experimented with free-falling objects at the Leaning Tower of Pisa, or who simply want to walk hand-in-hand with their beloved down the Magpie Bridge as in the legend “The Cowherd and the Weaver Girl,” may want to visit the National Science Council’s (NSC) science festival this year.

Linz, AUSTRIA — During the journey to 'The Peak of Eternal Light', the audience joins Commander Björn Grieger and his flight crew onboard a virtual lunar shuttle called 'Sparrow' for a thrilling flight over the lunar surface.

London, ENGLAND — 40 years since Apollo 11? It's just the tip of the comet for space-based celebration in 2009. This is International Year of Astronomy, and anywhere with the slightest moonbeam of a connection to the stars is putting on a show.

Canary Islands, SPAIN — The Great Telescope of the Canary Islands, or GTC, the world’s biggest and most technologically advanced, will unveil mysteries of the cosmos with its powerful mirror equivalent to the sight of 4 million pupils of the human eye.

Tucson, ARIZONA — I am looking at Saturn. Not a photo of Saturn, not an illustration or a projection on a planetarium wall. I am on a piney mountaintop in southern Arizona, looking intently through the eyepiece of a two-story-tall telescope with a 24-inch mirror at the sixth planet from the sun, more than 700 million miles away.

London, ENGLAND — It's exactly 400 years since the Jacobean scientist and draftsman Thomas Harriot first turned his "Dutch Trunke" to the night sky to make a series of observations and drawings of the moon.

Ridgefield, CONNECTICUT — The Hubble Space Telescope — developed just 10 miles north from Ridgefield’s village — keeps a steady eye on far corners of the universe, capturing breathtaking images of beauty.

Kenoshaw, WISCONSIN — Four hundred years ago, with his feet firmly planted on the ground in Italy, Galileo created a telescope that allowed him to see Jupiter, craters of the moon and the phases of Venus.

MALAYSIA — A total eclipse of the sun cast a long shadow on Earth yesterday, 22 July 2009. Said to be the longest total solar eclipse in the 21st century, the shadow moved along a narrow corridor across parts of the Asia Pacific.

Chandler, ARIZONA — Chandler residents will be able to get a close-up look at the stars Friday night in Veterans Oasis Park to celebrate the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization's "International Year of Astronomy."

CHINA — On July 22nd the moon’s shadow fell across China’s industrial heartland in the longest total solar eclipse the 21st century will witness. Never before have so many people lived under an eclipse’s path.